This animation may only be used in support of a single legal proceeding and for no other purpose. Read our License Agreement for details. To license this image for other purposes, click here.
MEDICAL ANIMATION TRANSCRIPT: Complex regional pain syndrome, or CRPS, formally known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy, or RSD, is a chronic condition that causes persistent, burning pain and swelling in your arms, hands, legs, or feet. Your body's normal response to an injury begins when pain receptors deliver pain messages in the form of nerve impulses to your brain. Once these impulses reach the pain centers in your brain, the pain centers generate new impulses and send them through your sympathetic nervous system to the area of injury. The sympathetic impulses trigger an inflammatory response, causing blood vessels to expand. The inflammatory response also leads to swelling and redness in the damaged tissue. As your wound heals, the swelling and redness subsides, and the pain goes away. However if you have complex regional pain syndrome, the pain and swelling do not go away after your wound heals and may worsen over time. Although the exact cause is unknown, one theory suggests that after your injury has healed, abnormal impulses continue to travel along nerves to your skin and blood vessels, stimulating the inflammatory response. There are two types of complex regional pain syndrome, though the symptoms are the same for both. If you have CRPS I, your condition may have been triggered by an illness or injury, but you do not have a nerve injury in the affected area. If you have CRPS II, your condition is clearly linked to a nerve injury in the affected area. Treatment of complex regional pain syndrome is focused on pain management as there is no cure for this condition. Your treatment options may include pain medication, physical therapy, a nerve block, implantation of a pain controlling device, surgery, and psychosocial support.
"I wanted to thank you for the terrific job you did illustrating my client's
injuries. The case was settled at the pre-suit mediation, and I believe a
good part of the success we had was due to the medical legal art you
prepared.
Your work received the ultimate compliment at the conclusion of the mediation. The hospital risk manager took the exhibit with them at the
conclusion of mediation, and will be using it to train nurses on how to
prevent bed sores..."
Steven G. Koeppel Troy, Yeslow & Koeppel, P.A. Fort Myers, FL
"A few words about The Doe Report: recently in a brachial plexus injury
case, we used an image from The Doe Report to demonstrate the injury. We
downloaded the PDF file image, and were amazed at the quality. The hard
copies that you sent were even more clear. As well, we could not have been
happier when you customized the image and reversed the injury from the left
shoulder to the right shoulder, which is where our client's injury was.
The speed and cost-effectiveness of the product made it the perfect tool for
our purposes. We will use The Doe Report again in future cases."
Andrew Needle
Needle Gallagher & Ellenberg, P.A.
Miami, FL
"There is nothing like a great graphic depicting the real nature and
extent of a victim's injuries to get full value for your client. I use
Medical Legal Art for mediations as well as trial."
Geoff Wells
Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler
Santa Monica, CA
"For us, the defining feature of effective demonstrative evidence is
whether, by itself, the piece will tell the story of the case. Medical legal
Art provides our firm with illustrations and animations that are clear and
persuasive. Their exhibits tell the story in a way that allows the jury to
understand a very complex subject, very quickly."
James D. Horwitz Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, P.C. Bridgeport, CT
Medical Legal Art creates medical demonstrative evidence (medical
illustrations, drawings, pictures, graphics, charts, medical animations,
anatomical models, and interactive presentations) for use during legal
proceedings, including research, demand letters, client conferences,
depositions, arbitrations, mediations, settlement conferences, mock jury
trials and for use in the courtroom. We do not provide legal or medical
advice. If you have legal questions, you should find a lawyer with whom you
can discuss your case issues. If you have medical questions, you should seek the advice of a healthcare provider.